On Sunday July 18, I ran my first race since my fibula fracture. I ran the 10k race and it was much more hot and humid than I remember it being last year. I wasn’t aiming for any particular time as long as it was less than one hour. Being my first race since my injury, I was focused mainly on how I felt and maintaining good form. I tried to keep slow and steady breathing as that would be my best indication of a safe pace. I was able to keep my breathing slow for the first 5k, but found it getting progressively faster during the last half. I remembered from last year that the downhill toward the finish was a lot longer than it seemed. I made sure I didn’t start to speed my pace too much until I could see the finish line. Once I saw the finish line, I slowly increased to the fastest sprint I could muster. My finishing time was 50:17 and I was happy with that all things considered. I was happier that I felt good after the run and for the most part during the run, which is more than I can say for a lot of people out there.

This year I was able to get my name on the Runner’s Life team. I am proud to say that for the second year in a row the team has won this event thanks to the performances of my fellow team members.

June 25 was my last appointment with Dr. Krete regarding my fibula fracture. After looking at the x-ray he told me that the bone was fully healed. I find that I get more nagging aches with it now than I did earlier, but I think it is just the soft tissues adapting to the new lumpy fibula. I find that I usually don’t notice it at all when running, but it aches some times when I am resting. I am hoping this will go away with time and more exercise/stretching.

As I am reading through Michael Sandler’s “Barefoot Running” book, I can’t help but think that I could have avoided my injury if I had this book to follow when I started running. I love this book and in my opinion should be read by every runner starting out. It is full of helpful advice including stretches, exercises and drills. The important part I found was that his emphasis is on good running form and not pushing yourself too hard. I am trying to get Michael to come to Peterborough for a brief talk about his book. If I can get enough people to come from 12 to 1pm on Thursday, August 5 for the talk, I think he will make the stop on his way from Ottawa to Toronto during his book tour. So if you think you could make it, let me know as soon as possible.

One last thing, I’m now signed up for the Toronto ZooRun 10k on October 16. You can pledge me online here

https://eventsonline.ca/cgi-bin/events/crs_zoorun/pledge.pl?id=JME1874374

My ankle still aches from time to time, but it is mild and I usually notice it after a couple of days of rest. So right or wrong, I take it as a sign I should give it some gentle exercise. I’m happy to say that the gentle exercise now includes a light track workout. On Tuesday, I went to one of Dave’s Tuesday night track runs and was quite happy with the workout and pace he gave me. It felt slow and a little boring at first but I was able to focus on my form more. Again, I had elevated and iced my ankle when I got home from the track. After the workout and the next day I didn’t feel any soreness in the ankle so I would call it a success. During my recovery I have been doing a lot of walking since I haven’t been able to run. My feet felt a lot more comfortable running on the rough track than they had last year. I credit all the walking I have been doing with toughening up my soles. The varying terrain and the reduced friction of the walking seem to have allowed the skin to thicken more than the running. I am going to try to incorporate more walking into my routine even when I am back to full running.

Tuesday was a good day to be barefoot and not just at the track. The City of Peterborough council had proclaimed June first “Barefoot Challenge Day, in support of International Children’s Day” as posted on the City’s website. The proclamation made me feel (rightly or wrongly) like there was more social support for the benefits of going barefoot. I don’t however like the idea of linking being barefoot with raising awareness of the poor. I feel that the poor have much greater needs such as good food, shelter and access to medicines and education. The last thing they need is blisters, athlete’s foot, plantar warts, plantar fasciitis, neuroma, hammer toe, corns, bunions, heel spurs, arthritis and ingrown toenails caused by shoes. I would much rather see bare feet being associated with health, sport, fitness, adventure, spirituality and environmental awareness.

As a final note, I just received my copy of Barefoot Running by Michael Sandler. From the small bits I have read so far it looks like and excellent book and I will be posting about it in the future.

Armed with printouts of my research I went to the Trent Radio studio on Wednesday afternoon. Joining me on the show was Dr. Brian Lindsay, who was going to be arguing on the side of running shoes and Chris who stated that he “strongly sided with the shoe side of the debate”. I knew this would be challenging, but I had done my research and was confident with the information I had.

Chris started out with a list of topics we would cover, although I think it was pretty much free-flowing once we got going. The topic we started on was Injuries. Both Chris and Brian felt that running barefoot was a dangerous undertaking due to injuries from cuts, scrapes and puncture wounds. Brian felt that there are some people with conditions that should never attempt this due to increased risk of infection including “to some extent obesity”. I agree that these people need to do what is best for their health for their conditions, but they also need to live their lives without over protection or becoming overanxious. Chris and Brian both felt that parents would not let their kids run/go barefoot because of the (perceived) risk of sharp debris (i.e. glass) causing injuries. I told them that the risk was over exaggerated and that in the 2 years of barefoot running, I’ve had more cuts on my hands from everyday activities than on my feet (wearing shoes doesn’t ensure healthy intact skin as there are many open blisters from running in shoes), but that doesn’t mean I am going to be afraid of not wearing gloves everywhere. Brian asked me as a microbiologist how I reconcile the risk of infection by going barefoot. I told him I don’t believe there is an increase in infection by going barefoot and than in my opinion the cause of a lot of foot infections and ailments is the shoe itself by providing a warm moist place for harmful organisms to grow.

We also talked about how barefoot running would affect typical running injuries. We agreed that there is not enough data since very few studies have been done. Brian suggested that there aren’t a lot of studies out there because there is no interest in it from the shoe companies who are the ones that have spent the vast amounts of money on research. I questioned why the shoe is always the default and barefoot is not when barefoot running is what people have been doing for 2million years and the modern running shoe has only been around for 40 years and the injury rate in running is 60-80% for the last 40 years and hasn’t changed even though the shoe companies have added all of this technology to their shoes.

At one point Brian said he felt that barefoot running seemed like a complete fad to him and if it was not going to effect performance or participation, then he didn’t really see the point of it. I had to say that I was somewhat surprised when I look at Nike’s website and saw that they had on their Nike Free shoe page for the Free 0.0 a bare foot. They also had written there “Barefoot running isn’t just a fad; it’s proven fact that it improves strength, flexibility and balance.” So it was strange to use a quote from Nike to support my position. We agreed that shoe companies really just want to sell a shoe to everyone.

At the end of it all, I said even if you believe barefoot vs. shoes debate is a draw at least I don’t have to pay the money every so many months to buy new shoes and if I decide to go running no matter where I am I always have my running shoes.

This is an x-ray of my left fibula 3 months after the injury occured on Dec. 7, 2009.

I went to see the doctor on Wednesday March 31. I had to get another set of x-rays done. After having me move my ankle in all different directions, he told me that I could start running on it again and to let up if I started feeling any pain. I told him that I run barefoot and to my surprise he was actually quite supportive and interested. He didn’t know the exact cause of my injury, and although felt I was well enough to start running, he wants to continue seeing me and x-raying the leg on a monthly bases. So although I don’t have any definitive answers about what happened and how to keep it from happening again (and probably never will), I do have my own theory.

I was pretty much living a sedentary life before I started running. In the first year of running I didn’t train very hard and I was only running 8 to 10k per week. The second year I decided to run the half marathon in Hamilton. In July I ramped up my running to about 40k per week plus track workouts. I was only running and not doing any cross-training with other exercise. At the end of that year I got the fracture after running a few k’s in cold temperatures without warm-up or stretching. Since bones thicken to support muscles but at a slow rate compared to the muscles. I believe that the muscles had strengthened too fast for the fibula to support it under the conditions that I was running under. The tight tendon and strong muscle pulled the fibula apart creating the stress fracture.

The doctor didn’t agree with my theory, but until I hear something better, I’m going to stick with this one.

Friday, February 26, 2010

The Barefoot Running Debate Isn’t Really About Running

by Barefoot Michael

The subject of barefoot running has exploded into the public eye in the last year. It started in earnest with the widespread popularity of Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run, and most recently culminated in the results of a study by Dr. Daniel Lieberman. He scientifically showed that the forefoot strike creates less biomechanical impact force than a heel strike.

A lot has been said about this topic. I have numerous friends with whom I’ve connected across the world who have chimed in on this “debate.” We’ve all posted tweets, blog posts and articles with our take on the issue. Shoe company executives have even begun to share their thoughts. On the “pro-shoe” sided of the issue, podiatrists, shoe companies and others claim that the forces and mechanics of running are too much for the bare foot. Even if they’re not, they remind us that running barefoot has inherent risk of injury from stepping on rocks or other sharp objects.On the “pro-barefoot” side of the issue, these runners claim less injury due to a forefoot strike. Many, including myself, have even accused the same podiatrists and shoe companies of promoting shod running primarily for financial gain. If we barefooters get hurt less and buy fewer shoes, that affects their bottom lines.Justin Owings, owner of Vibram Fivefingers fan site BirthdayShoes.com, recently made a very good point about running in his recent blog post. It’s an observation similar to what I’ve mentioned previously in this space. Justin writes (the bold emphases are his): “The barefoot running debate is curious. It feels backwards. Most know Occam’s Razor: the simplest answer tends to be the best one. What is the simplest answer when it comes to what human beings were meant to put on their feet in order to walk or run? Nothing. We are barefoot by default… Starting from the default human condition, the onus regarding the merits of shoes should be on the shoe companies. But of course it’s not. It’s the opposite.”

In a way, I kind of feel like the two sides are a married couple in a knock-down, drag-out shouting match with each other that all began over who should do the dishes. Any married couple can tell you that those kinds of arguments are never really about the dishes, are they? Let’s dig deeper.

I am a barefoot runner only because I first live a barefoot lifestyle. If the weather is at all decent — and when I’m not injured — you can find me barefoot around the house, at church, out shopping, attending family gatherings and sometimes even dining out. I live barefoot because it is the most comfortable way to have my feet and is actually quite sanitary and safe. It is just as normal for me to go barefoot as it is for most people to live without gloves on their hands.I’ve dealt with criticism from people, sure. I’ve been asked by a few store managers to put on “shoes” if I wanted to continue on in their establishment. I haven’t enjoyed that part of going barefoot. I’ve blogged here on numerous occasions about the difficulties I’ve faced from my lifestyle choice to go without shoes where many people wouldn’t.
Back to the topic at hand, I began running because I wanted to be healthier. I wanted to do something to lose a little weight, be more fit and feel better. I found a wonderful community of runners online and have enjoyed sharing goodwill with them.Running with “regular” sneakers was never an option. That would be like wanting to become a pianist and putting on gloves every time I sat down to play. The concept never fit because that’s not who I am. I don’t really think of myself as a “barefoot runner,” just as piano players aren’t “barehanded pianists.” I’m just a runner.

When I look at it from that perspective, the barefoot running debate isn’t about running. It’s not even about money.

Think for a moment: When’s the last time you heard of an exercise style stirring up so much controversy? Free weights versus machine weights? Sweatin’ to the Oldies versus Tae Bo? In any case when exercise styles differed, I can’t recall a time where athletes didn’t just decide to do their own thing after trying different styles. You don’t see a groundswell of people railing against weight machines. You didn’t see Richard Simmons getting out there and telling people to avoid Billy Blanks’ way of exercising. For some reason, though, barefoot versus shod running is SO polarizing! Why? 

Barefoot running, like a barefoot lifestyle, strikes a nerve in our deepest core about feet and our perceptions of them. It makes us really step back and look at what role our feet could — or more importantly should — play in our lives. How do we move across the ground? How much sensation do we allow into our psyche? What dangers lie just below our feet? How much of ourselves do we expose to those around us? How much of others are we comfortable seeing? 

When it comes to those last two questions, an interesting thing cropped up while I was writing this blog post. It had to do with a person that I follow on Twitter. Kate (@KateColberg) and a couple of other Twitter users decided to make Wednesday, Feb. 24, “Avatar Feet Day.” They changed their Twitter profile images, a.k.a. avatars, to pictures of their feet. Fun, right? It was briefly…until she wrote to me, “I had no idea it was going to upset people.” I told her that I wasn’t offended by anything, and she replied, “Other people have commented that they hate feet & it grosses them out & please change my pic back.” Wow.

I actually had a conversation with someone who objected to Kate’s feet being prominently shown in her avatar (Because I’m not interested in calling anyone out or embarrassing them, let’s call this person “Sam”). I asked Sam what issue they had with feet. They ended up repeating four times the same basic sentiment: “I just dont like feet. Plain and simple.” That’s pretty much as much detail as I got. Now, Sam may have specific reasons that they’re not interested in disclosing as to why they have such a problem with others’ feet, but nevertheless it’s a sentiment that I have heard so many times.

For a part of that body that’s not considered “private,” — after all, people go barefoot on TV shows, in magazines and on Web sites — feet are arguably the most rejected of them all. You don’t hear people say, “I just don’t like ears. Plain and simple.” They don’t say that about hair, chins, shoulders, elbows, hands, knees or anything else. There’s something about feet. And people’s objections about feet aren’t even that consistent. For example, someone may say that they “hate” feet, but are perfectly fine with going to the public pool where everybody is barefoot.

Only on rare occasions is going barefoot embraced. This usually happens when somebody goes barefoot for charity, as if seeing someone withstand the torture of going without shoes makes people want to donate money. Weddings are sometimes performed on the beach or in soft grass so that the wedding party can go barefoot as a way of being in tune with nature. Other, isolated times of barefooting are briefly allowed. “How quaint,” people think for each occasion. “Ahhhhh.”

All right. Snap out of it.

Let’s face it: In general, whether it’s for the purpose of running, worshiping, shopping, play or even online avatars, the general idea of going barefoot is controversial in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Somewhere along the line shoes became the “norm.” As Justin pointed out, our baseline isn’t barefoot and then explain why shoes are needed. Shoes are expected and you’d better have a really good reason to take them off.

A lot of the arguments against going barefoot in any activity are the same. A prominent idea about feet is that they are sweaty and inherently smell. Some fear catching a disease from the ground/floor into the bottom of their feet. Many people claim that there are broken beer bottles and AIDS-laced syringes just lying around everywhere. The idea of lacking any arch support while going barefoot is troubling to lots of people. I’ve even had people tell me personally, “You know, it’s not good for your back to go barefoot.” The list goes on and on.

So the prominent stigmas against going barefoot carry over to running barefoot. It isn’t about comparing a heel strike to a forefoot strike. It isn’t about avoiding blisters or not losing toenails. It’s not about any of the other perfectly good arguments for running unshod. I’d bet you that most runners who reject the idea of barefoot running could not care less about any of that. The decision is made based on the word “barefoot,” not the word “running.”

I have also personally heard someone reply — on more than one occasion, actually — after hearing all the benefits of barefoot running, “I’ll stick to wearing my shoes.” No pause for personal reflection on whether it could have benefit to them. No challenging of what they “know” about the capability or characteristics of the human feet. Just outright rejection. What’s more, these same negative sentiments are reinforced by the podiatrists and shoe company executives who I mentioned earlier. So where does all this leave us? With a lot of work to do.We barefoot runners and general barefooters need find ways to better educate the public about feet. We need to become advocates of what, to many, has become a demonized part of the body. Most importantly, we need to do it together. Only then, maybe, will feet get the respect they deserve.I’m up for the challenge and will soon be making a major announcement with regard to this. I’m very much looking forward to what lies ahead.

The next day the doctor felt the lump on my ankle and said he would send me for a x-ray.  I said I thought he was going to send me for an ultra-sound or MRI so that the soft tissue could be looked at.  He told me he didn’t care about the soft tissue, it was the bone he was more concerned about.  When I asked him how long it would be before I could get in for the x-ray I was surprised when he said “right now”.  I went into the x-ray office and there were no other patients so they took me right away.  The technician took 4 images of my ankle at various angles.  As she was taking the last one I asked her how much soft tissue the x-ray would be able to show since it was a tendon injury.  She told me it wouldn’t show much soft tissue and then she paused and said “Well you definitely have more than a soft tissue injury.” She then motioned me over to look at the image and I could see even before I got close that there was a fracture across the fibula about 6cm above the ankle joint.  I was shocked and felt a little sick in disbelief.  She said it was pretty much healed and it looked pretty straight to her.  I thanked her and still in some shock I left the office.

On Thursday, the doctor’s office called and referred me to a specialist.  So now I am waiting to set up an appointment with him.  With my brain now unable to concentrate on anything else, I have been searching online for more information on my situation.

Here are a couple of sites I found interesting.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2399885

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/lowerleg/fibula_stress_fracture.htm

http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8129189/physioadvisor-ankle-pain-ankle-injury-treatmen.htm

I now also have some injuries to recover from before I can do any serious training.  The ball of my right foot just back of my big toe (called the metatarsophelangeal joint) was giving me discomfort a week or so after the Hamilton Half.  I’m not sure if I bruised it or sprained the joint in some way, but the pain was not enough to stop me from running.  I would describe it as more of a discomfort and seemed most noticeable when I was walking slowly or resting.  I continued to run 2 or 3 times per week as the running conditions began to feel more and more like winter.

On Monday December 7, I drove to the store on time for the pub run.  I was looking forward to this one because it had snowed about 5cm late in the day giving us the first fresh snow on the ground of the season.  Unfortunately the fresh snow also brought out the Christmas shoppers to the downtown.  By the time I got parked the run had started so I decided to run the route in reverse until I met up with the other runners.  The temperature was about 1ºC and I started out fast with no warm-up or stretching.  I was enjoying the feel of the fresh snow, but my left ankle on the outside felt a bit stiff.  By the time I met up with the other runners at about 2 or 3k out and turned to run back with them my ankle was really feeling tight and a little sore.  Half way back I had to slow to a walk and by the time I got to within a block of the store I found it painful to even limp.

On Wednesday I saw my family doctor and my massage therapist.  It seems I strained a tendon in my ankle (the peroneal tendon, brevis or longus is my guess) no doubt from going too fast without warming up.  The massage made it feel a little better.  The doctor gave me some anti-inflammatories and I got some adjustments from the chiropractor on Thursday night also.  I will be seeing the physiotherapist on Tuesday, so I will have had all the experts involved.  I think all there is to do now is to rest it.  The added benefit is my right foot is getting some rest too and is feeling better now.  With any luck I will be able to get back to some serious training after Christmas and I’ll have to make the final decisions on those races when I have healed up.  I should add that although I would like to run those entire races barefoot, I am willing to wear my VFF’s if conditions are too hazardous for me at the time.

I was quite relieved when Dave offered to drive me to Hamilton.  He was leaving early Sunday morning.  I new that meant leaving shortly after 4am, but would allow me to take the kids out for Halloween.  There were some strong gusting winds on Halloween night and I was a little worried about what the conditions would be for Hamilton in the morning.  When taking the kids out, I was asked at more than a couple of houses if I wasn’t too cold in my bare feet.  I thought if they only new that I was heading to Hamilton in several hours to run a half marathon barefoot.

It was nice to see that the wind had died down to nothing by the time we got to Hamilton.  The race kit pick-up and the bus ride to the high school (starting line) went smoothly.  The high school gymnasium was crowded but a warm place to wait for the start.  I was glad I had thought to bring an ankle band because the timing chip that they gave us was for attaching to shoe laces with a plastic tie-strap.  I was able to attach it to the ankle band and hoped it wouldn’t rub when I was running.  After checking my bag I was lucky to find Tracy who was aiming for a time I thought I could do also, but anything under 2 hours would have satisfied me.  Tracy and I got our places near the front of the starting line with more than 900 people behind us.  It was a little chilly waiting at the start wearing shorts at 5ºC.  However, once we got running I immediately felt comfortable and knew I had made the right choice in clothing.

People were passing us right from the start and a lot of them said something about my bare feet.  What was nice was that everything that was said was a compliment, praise or words of encouragement and that really energized me.  Tracy had a plan for how she was going to pace herself that involved her starting slow and speeding up throughout the race.  I stayed with her for the first part, but by the middle of the downhill I wanted to use gravity by relaxing so I would speed up.  I knew it was a gamble that I could maintain the faster pace and not burn myself out before the end since I had never run that distance before.  The highway asphalt was rougher than I thought it would be so I tried to stay on the white painted lines as much as possible.  I noticed shortly after the 10k mark than any talking had been replaced with puffing.  By the time I reached the 17k mark I was really wanting to see the finish line.  Every k marker after seemed to be too low and I had to keep telling myself that I only had a few more steps to go.  I was starting to feel a tingling sensation in the middle toe of my left foot and imagined a blood blister forming.  I saw the 20k sign and thought about hitting the after-burners, but just then I stepped on something sharp.  I wasn’t going to stop and check it out at that point so I just kept running.  I imagined I was leaving bloody footprints but then I saw the finishing shoot in the distance.  At that point I did the best sprint I could do with the energy I had left and crossed the mat at 1:45:59.

I was surprised that the guy who removed my timing chip from my ankle band didn’t say anything about running barefoot, but he just seemed a little relieved that I had a chip he could remove.  However, just about everyone else who saw me started with the same two questions;

“Did you run barefoot?” followed by,

“How are your feet?”.

I was happy to answer “yes” and “my feet feel great”.  Despite the tingling and the sharp poke I had felt, the soles of my feet looked better than they had before the race.  I could feel a little bit of muscle soreness in my feet, but it was minor compared to my quadriceps.  I found it funny that people were so concerned about the condition of my feet after running the half marathon barefoot and Kasey who had run the full marathon had blood oozing out of her shoes at the end of her race.

I don’t know why anyone would want to run in shoes.  They must be crazy.  I can only conclude that I was the only sane one in the races.  I did notice the Kenyans looking at me after the race and I think I saw a guilty look on their faces.

I finally had a glass injury from running barefoot.  Now I’m sure all of the people out there that are either paranoid of broken glass, or use this type of injury as an excuse as to why they need to wear shoes will be thinking “Aha! I knew it!”  However, I have received more injuries from glass to my hands than I ever have on my feet and I don’t think that is a reason to wear gloves every waking minute as some people wear shoes.  This is the first glass injury I have sustained while running since I started running barefoot more that a year and a half ago.  It happened on the railway bridge during the Pub Run about a month ago.  A clear glass bottle had been smashed and splintered into tiny shards on the narrow path.  I thought I had tip-toed safely through it, but near the end of the run I was feeling several painful jabs with every step.  I knew there wasn’t much I could do until I got back to the store, so I tried to adjust my landings so that my weight was minimized in the areas where I was feeling the pain.  Back at the store I removed a couple of very tiny glass shards from the sore spots.  When I got home I washed, disinfected and covered the spots with liquid Band-Aid (my secret weapon).  Everything seemed to heal up nicely.

On Saturday October third, I ran 15k of trails at the Ganaraska Forest.  It was a cool sunny morning but warmed up nicely and the rain held off until we finished the run.  The fall colours and the sandy trails make this run one of my favourites.  I suffered only a couple of lacerations during the 15k run.  On the shin from a whipping raspberry cane and the top of my foot from a bouncing stick.  The bottoms of my feet didn’t hurt, but I felt the effects of the hills on my legs.